The FBI created the National Security Branch (NSB) in September 2005 in response to a presidential directive to establish a “National Security Service” that combines the missions, capabilities, and resources of the FBI’s counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence elements under the leadership of a senior FBI official.

The NSB was formed by the unification of the FBI's various national security and intelligence gathering units: [2]

It is speculated that this will lead to the formation of "career paths" for FBI Special Agents; meaning that once a new agent has completed Special Agent Training at FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and has completed the mandatory probationary period, that he or she will choose to go into the National Security Branch, or go into the "Criminal" part of the Bureau and focus on crimes such as organized crime, narcotics, civil rights violations, fraud, and violent crime. Some advocates of this new program[who?] say that this re-organization will help the fight against terrorism by making it less bureaucratic.